AI-assisted Process Mining for Context-Sensitive Analysis Support
Paul Brützke, Robin Killewald, Sandro Franzoi, Jan vom Brocke
In Print – European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2025)
Abstract: Process mining adoption and its value realization in organizations is often inhibited by limited transferability of insights into actionable results: Users require extensive contextual knowledge and sophisticated skillsets to derive insights from process mining analyses. Novel generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities can aid users in conducting such analyses through natural language queries, thereby offering the potential to add context, assist analysis, and transform insights into actions. Hence, we conducted a design science research study to develop an artifact that facilitates AI-assisted process mining analysis. We evaluated the artifact by interviewing 14 process mining experts to determine its suitability, usefulness, and impact. We find that the artifact enables novel use cases for new and existing user groups by offering context-sensitive process mining analysis support. Our work demonstrates how generative AI can augment process mining in organizations and highlights its potential for automatically integrating contextual knowledge into process mining analyses.
Explaining Process Dynamics: A Process Mining Context Taxonomy for Sense-Making
Sandro Franzoi, Sophie Hartl, Thomas Grisold, Han van der Aa, Jan Mendling, Jan vom Brocke
März 2025 – Process Science
Keywords: Context, Process mining, Taxonomy, Sense-making, Dynamics
Abstract: Process mining research focuses on analyzing, visualizing, and predicting business process performance. However, the interpretation of process mining results often overlooks the critical role of context, limiting the ability to derive meaningful insights into process dynamics. In this paper, we develop a Process Mining Context Taxonomy that identifies and categorizes contextual factors influencing process mining outcomes across three levels: process-immediate, organization-internal, and organization-external context. Grounded in existing context frameworks and empirical insights from routine dynamics, the taxonomy provides a structured approach for incorporating context into process mining analyses. We demonstrate its applicability through a case study in a financial institution and evaluate its usability in a user study involving process mining experts. Based on these findings, we propose two usage paths to guide process analysts in interpreting process mining results. Our study highlights the need for contextualization in process mining, offers actionable guidance to enhance the interpretability of process mining efforts, and opens up promising avenues for future research.
The Four Challenges of Making Business Process Management a Reality
Michael Rosemann, Jan vom Brocke, Jan Mendling
März 2025 – Business Process Management Cases Vol. 3: Implementation in Practice
Abstract: Our collective understanding of Business Process Management has substantially matured since Michael Hammer, James Champy and Thomas Davenport initiated the global uptake of BPM three decades ago (Hammer & Champy, 1993; Davenport, 1993). Nowadays, we have advanced and validated frameworks such as process life cycle models, maturity models, modelling standards (e.g., BPMN 2.0), proven improvement approaches (e.g., lean management, six sigma), robust governance frameworks and detailed templates for role descriptions. Similarly, solutions for the modelling, analysis, execution or mining of business processes are available and the related literacy has grown rapidly among the world’s community of BPM professionals.
On the Development of the BPM Governance Matrix: The Case of Endress + Hauser
Jan vom Brocke, Manuel Weber, Christian Stefan Baumgartner, Alexander Röettcher, Stefan Segerlund
März 2025 – Business Process Management Cases Vol. 3: Implementation in Practice
Abstract: (a) Situation faced: We are reporting on a large BPM redesign project at Endress+Hauser (E+H), a globally operating company in the measurement and automation industry. E+H aimed to reallocate roles and responsibilities of their business process management (BPM) within the existing organization but lacked a tool or framework to guide them in this endeavor.
(b) Action taken: As part of this design science research (DSR) collaboration, we co-developed the BPM Governance Matrix, which enables practitioners to integrate and institutionalize BPM within their existing units and the broader management of the entire organization.
(c) Results achieved: The main achievement is the development and evaluation of the BPM Governance Matrix, which is based on three activity groups (strategy, structure, process) and four responsibility dimensions, adapted from the RACI method (responsible, accountable, consult, inform).
(d) Lessons learned: The matrix demonstrates its usefulness by promoting awareness of the process stakeholder’s roles and responsibilities. Moreover, practitioners can utilize and extend the matrix based on their contextual requirements from a bottom-up perspective. Finally, the matrix can be used to promote communication and collaboration within the existing organization. As such, it creates transparency and supports the discourse among process stakeholders, leading to increased acceptance.
Endress+Hauser (E+H), headquartered in Switzerland, is a global leader in the measurement and automation industry specializing in process and laboratory applications. They employ more than 14,000 people and run production facilities on four continents.
Business Process Management Cases Vol. 3
Jan vom Brocke, Jan Mendling, Michael Rosemann
März 2025
About this Book: Business Process Management (BPM) is at a pivotal moment as new opportunities and demands emerge. On the one side, Artificial Intelligence and process mining facilitate entirely new process design and analysis options. On the other hand, organizations are tasked to ensure their business processes are also sustainable, responsible and explainable. In light of this fast moving context, insights into the actual practice of BPM have become indispensable points of reference.
The BPM Cases Volume 3 adds 16 new cases to the existing 53 cases from Volumes 1 and 2, bringing the case collection to a total of 69 cases from many well-known organizations across industries and around the world. The focus of Volume 3 is on the return on BPM, its operationalization in light of constraints (e.g., data inaccuracies), scaling BPM across an organization and how to blend BPM into unique cultural settings. The cases show among others how to apply process mining to generate business value and how data-led BPM ensures evidence-based ways to manage processes.
Human-GAI Co-Creation: Using a Process Theory Lens to Understand Human-GAI Interaction in Creative Problem-Solving
Nadine Kathrin Ostern, Charlotte Knickrehm, Marleen Voss, Yngve Kelch
Dezember 2024 – ICIS 2024 Proceedings
Keywords: GenAI, human-AI interaction, problem-solving, process theory
Abstract: As generative artificial intelligence (GAI) becomes increasingly prevalent in creative and knowledge-based work, understanding how humans interact with these systems to solve complex problems is essential. This study explores the specific actions humans take when interacting with GAI, utilizing an experimental setup with ChatGPT where participants engage in a complex creative writing task. We apply process theory to analyze interactions, identifying patterns and mechanisms shaping these interactions and their outcomes. We categorize these interactions into three distinct configurations, each reflecting different levels of user engagement, ways to interrogate ChatGPT outcomes, and integration of personal knowledge. These configurations extend traditional models of human-AI co-creation by offering a more nuanced perspective. By linking these configurations to the phases of creative problem-solving, our study provides deeper insights into how humans can effectively collaborate with GAI, potentially enhancing creative workflows in various domains.
Large-Scale Dynamics of Business Process Change: Insights From Digital Venture Scaling
Tobias Wuttke, Thomas Haskamp, Thomas Grisold, Falk Uebernickel
Dezember 2024 – ICIS 2024 Proceedings
Keywords: Business process management, digital entrepreneurship, digital venturing, business process dynamics
Abstract: The rapid evolution of digital technologies is reshaping business process management (BPM). While recent research has focused on the small-scale dynamics of these changes, for instance, by applying process mining, we know little about the large-scale dynamics of process changes over extended time periods. This study examines large-scale changes in business processes within the context of digital venturing. We present preliminary results of a single case study of TechCo, a digital venture specializing in software development. We analyze the large-scale dynamics of changes in its lead-to-cash business process from 2009 to 2023. Our investigation reveals two primary forms of business process changes: (1) reacting to growth-related events and (2) facilitating entrepreneurial growth. We point to several theoretical and practical contributions and outline the next steps in this research project.
Keywords: Business process management, digital entrepreneurship, digital venturing, business process dynamics
A Context Framework for Sense-making of Process Mining Results
Thomas Grisold, Han van der Aa, Sandro Franzoi, Sophie Hartl, Jan Mendling, Jan Vom Brocke
Oktober 2024 – 2024 6th International Conference on Process Mining (ICPM)
Keywords: Process mining, Visualization, Europe, Business
Abstract: : Process mining research has made tremendous progress in analyzing, visualizing, and predicting the performance of business processes through computational techniques. However, little attention has been brought to understanding why and how business processes behave as they do. Process mining results alone are not sufficient to arrive at meaningful interpretations about the dynamics and changes of a given business process. Rather, we need to account for contextual factors that underlie and explain the behavior of processes. In this paper, we make two central contributions. First, we develop a framework that depicts relevant factors to make sense of process mining results. The framework is intended to help researchers and practitioners explain why and how processes change across a variety of contexts. Second, we demonstrate the application of our framework within a real-world case: a customer onboarding process in a European financial institution.
A process-oriented perspective on digital transformation
Jan vom Brocke, Manuel Weber, Gregor Kipping
September 2024 – A Research Agenda for Digital Transformation (Buch)
Abstract: Added value is not generated by digital technology alone but requires a careful and innovative alignment between task-, technology-, and people-related activities. Such an alignment can be realized using a process-oriented view. Referring to literature on digital transformation and business process management, we have developed a process-oriented approach to digital transformation. First, we provide a theoretical foundation of how currently used digital technologies generate value via the design and execution of processes. Second, we refer to the BPM Billboard, which supports organizations applying a process-view for value creation utilizing digital technology. Third, we report on applying this tool at the Hilti Group, to account for specific organizational contexts. Fourth, we present the BPM Context Matrix to manage context archetypes: performance, innovation, reliability, and agility. Finally, we use these archetypes to identify four distinct logics of process-oriented digital transformation: automation management, project management, knowledge management, and complexity management.
Business Process Management in the Age of AI – Three Essential Drifts
Michael Rosemann, Jan vom Brocke, Amy Van Looy, Flavia Santoro
September 2024 – Information Systems and e-Business Management
Using Large Language Models to Generate Process Knowledge From Enterprise Content
Sandro Franzoi, Maxime Delwaulle, Julian Dyong, Jan Schaffner, Mara Burger, Jan vom Brocke
September 2024 – Business Process Management Workshops
Keywords: Large Language Models, Process Knowledge, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management
Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have disrupted knowledge work in many application areas. Accordingly, the Business Process Management (BPM) community has started to explore how LLMs can be leveraged, resulting in a variety of promising research directions across the BPM lifecycle. Despite rapid adoption in practice and strong research interest, however, little is known about the actual design of BPM systems that leverage LLMs in organizational contexts. In this paper, we report on design science-based research in collaboration with a large multinational company to design a BPM system that leverages LLMs for process knowledge extraction from diverse enterprise content. Based on the development of our prototype, we observe that LLMs provide the means to organize and generate process knowledge independent of specific forms of representation. We present a conceptual framework that describes the role of LLMs in generating process knowledge from diverse input formats and, in turn, making it available in diverse output formats via prompting, resulting in representation-agnostic process knowledge. We also highlight implications of our study for BPM research and practice.
Building the Processes Behind the Product: How Digital Ventures Create Business
Tobias Wuttke, Thomas Haskamp, Michael Perscheid, Falk Uebernickel
August 2024 – Business & Information Systems Engineering
Keywords: Business process management, Digital entrepreneurship, Digital ventures
Abstract: Business process management (BPM) is changing in the digital age. As a result, organizations are confronted with new logics that their business processes adhere to: processes are designed to allow for easy adaptability, infrastructure becomes progressively more flexible, and process participants make their own decisions in ambiguous situations. In this context, business process change becomes increasingly important. Digital ventures – key phenomena in the digital age – heavily rely on digital technology and, hence, have the potential to change quickly. Consequently, their business processes need to change at the same speed. While the literature on BPM proposes different types of business process change and acknowledges that digital technology can enable such developments, it remains to be explored which specific characteristics of digital technology facilitate business process change. The study investigates this by drawing on a multiple case study with seven digital ventures. It finds four patterns of business process changes in digital ventures, illustrating digital technology’s impact on business processes. The study compares the patterns with existing types of business process change from the literature and discusses differences and similarities, trying to advance the understanding of business process dynamics in the digital age.
Process Science: The Interdisciplinary Study of Socio-Technical Change
Jan vom Brocke, Wil MP van der Aalst, Nicholas Berente, Boudewijn van Dongen, Thomas Grisold, Waldemar Kremser, Jan Mendling, Brian T Pentland, Maximilian Roeglinger, Michael Rosemann, Barbara Weber
Juli 2024 – Process Science
Abstract: Process science is the interdisciplinary study of socio-technical processes. Socio-technical processes involve coherent series of changes over time, entailing actions and events that include humans and digital technologies. The ubiquitous availability of digital trace data, combined with advanced data analytics capabilities, offer new and unprecedented opportunities to study such processes through multiple data sources. Process science is concerned with describing, explaining, and intervening in socio-technical change. It is based on four key principles; it (1) puts socio-technical processes at the center of attention, (2) investigates socio-technical processes scientifically, (3) embraces perspectives of multiple disciplines, and (4) aims to create impact by actively shaping the unfolding of socio-technical processes.
